Should I Take an Officer’s Field Sobriety Tests?
Police officers cannot force you to perform field sobriety tests. Understand, however, that if you refuse to participate in SFSTs, you will almost certainly be arrested for suspicion of DWI. If the officer asks you to participate in field sobriety, politely inform them that you would like to speak to an attorney before deciding whether or not to take them. The officer may then ask you if you are refusing the tests. Make sure you tell the officer that you are neither refusing nor agreeing to take the tests, but would simply like to visit briefly with an attorney to fully understand the consequences of your decision, whatever it may be.
This is truly a “darned if you do, darned if you don’t” scenario. If you refuse, you will go to jail. If you participate and fail the tests designed to make you fail, you will go to jail. If you pass the tests, you might go home, depending on whether the officer has other clues in which to form an opinion about whether you are intoxicated. Long story short, regardless of what you decide, you must have an experienced DWI attorney on your side to combat what the State will say are indicators that you are guilty of driving while intoxicated.